Once upon a story

Chapter Fourteen

“Are you sure it is alright for me to sleep here?” I ask Cem again as we lower my mattress onto her floor.

“Stop worrying, its fine. This is going to be fun” She squeals and lies back onto her bed.  During the beautifully cooked dinner we had I asked Cem if I could spend a night or two in her room while mine dried and she whole heartedly agreed.  We had carried my mattress from my room down to hers and positioned it beside her wooden bed. Originally she must have had the same plain oak furniture as mine however over time she has painted and decorated everything in bright colours, Cem was an amazing artist and the whole of one of her walls was a giant mural documenting her life. She said that if she has heightened emotions the best way to relived them is to draw and I agreed.  We found some plain sheets that were in the draw at the top of my wardrobe to place on my bed, she even said that she would help me decorate them so they fit in with my red, white and blue room theme.

“You’re room is so nice” I say flopping down on my now made bed that is ready for the next few nights

“Thanks, as will yours once you’ve been here as long as I have” her voice is matter of fact and it causes me to sit up and look at her stretched across her bed

“How long have you been here?” I ask leaning up on one elbow

“Years, I can barely remember my life before here” she replies and I see a dreamy expression cross her face. I don’t talk as I didn’t want to interrupt her memories so instead I waited for her to speak once more and closed my eyes. I thought back to when my life was still so easy, now I have no idea what is happening and I miss that time so much. My family are the people I miss the most, no doubt they also miss me but deep down I know that I need to stay in this place for a short while at least. Being close to the forest will aid in my investigation but I can’t get too comfortable in this place or a may be trapped for years like Cem has been and that can’t happen.  

I let out a deep sigh and open my eyes once more to take another look around the room, it was beautiful but it was too much for me. I would rather keep all of my artwork secret than have it displayed but I guess walls can be a good canvas.

“What’s up with you and Toff?” Cem asks suddenly, I look at her from my position on the floor before she signals me to sit next to her. I move up onto the bed and we both sit with our backs against the wall which is much more comfortable.

“I’m not sure.” I reply honestly “I didn’t know him at all until a few days and even now I feel as if I don’t really know him at all. He was great when we were walking around the building and decorating my room but after the diner thing it’s just all weird. Did you know him before I arrived?”

“He has always been really quiet, I’m not really sure what you do or don’t know about this place so I’ll start on the level that Toff hasn’t told you anything. We are a this community and everyone knows everyone else, the people here are all different. All special. So some rich all man created this as a home to us all and he was the first Alpha. Time has passed just as his title has and we come to today. The first Alpha wanted us to all live in harmony and be equal but it doesn’t work out that way and everything is just so divided. Where Toff comes in to all of this is that he is a long distance relation to either the first alpha or those who were first brought to this home. This means that he has more status than me or Sam and therefore I don’t really know him at all. He was always quiet and kept to himself but he still would be with people like Kallum, Haley and Sofia who were the girls that came to the table at dinner. It’s only recently that he became this gorgeous man-child and has girls chasing after him but he was never really interested in them” I try to consume her information but I don’t really understand.

“Ok can I just ask you questions and then you answer to the best of your ability?” I say and Cem nods happily in agreement 

“So there is the big original Alpha who was great and fair. How does that link with the man in the dining hall today?”